


Drinking to Remember

by cactwerk (ninnie_eats_chips)



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst, Established Relationship, F/M, Future Fic, Hurt/Comfort, Loss, Loss of Identity, Married Couple, surprise detail at the end, there's a decent amount of swearing in this fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-11
Updated: 2017-04-11
Packaged: 2020-08-10 10:04:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20133655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ninnie_eats_chips/pseuds/cactwerk
Summary: Sometimes shit hits the fan before you can realize you have a problem.





	Drinking to Remember

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: Spoiler for the end of game!
> 
> Disclaimer: This is not what I believe would really happen to Gladio post-game, so it may be taken as OOC. This is a 'What if Gladio really struggled with coming to terms with things...?'

When you woke up, Gladio was nowhere to be seen and your face grew hot with anger as you discovered that the sheets on his side of the bed hadn’t even been touched. He never listened to you anymore when you told him to go to bed. He never listened to a damn thing.

You growled and threw off your own blankets, then stomped into the kitchen where your suspicions were confirmed; bottles of beer were littered across the counter along with empty cup noodle containers. _Littered,_ not loosely put. Gladio was a big guy, but he knew how to get himself hammered. But apparently not how to clean up after a long night of feeling sorry for himself.

You uttered a string of foul words under your breath as you braced your aching back to pick up the stool from the floor. What a hypocrite. The man that used to scorn such behavior, now succumbing to it as he settled into his wallowing ways. As you stood back up again, a photograph on the counter caught your eye.

_That one. _The one with the king, his entourage, and his proud, strong and smiling shield taking up his rightful place beside him.

You sighed and started to resent the one who let him have that photo. Gladio hadn’t smiled like that in months. Why couldn’t he have just allowed himself to grieve? Was this is way of trying to stay strong for you? Because it wasn’t working out so well. Not when you found yourself repeatedly peeling the now thirty-six-year-old off the floor most mornings. He didn’t have a regular job anymore–just side stuff, so he was never really occupied. You were just getting by, but that wasn’t going to cut it for much longer.

You balled your fists. Heartburn was building up in your chest again, but you made your way to the bathroom where you expected to find your dear hubby lying sideways in the tub, with or without the vomit.

But he wasn’t there.

Your anger began to turn to concern as you soon realized Gladio wasn’t at home at all. Your heart rate picked up when you found the basement door wide open. And once you made your way inside, you choked on air to find his large sword missing from its usual perch against the wall, where it had previously gathered dust for the past year or so.

_“Fuck!”_ You swore, nearly tripping up the steps as you scrambled to get your phone from the bedside table. The first person you tried to call, of course, was your husband. But as soon as you dialed, you heard the chime of Gladio’s phone from the living room. You should’ve known he’d be too drunk to think to take it with him.

Hitting your leg in frustration, you then scrambled for Gladio’s phone to dial two of the only contacts who might know where he went. You called Ignis first, having met with him several times during the dark years after your engagement. You knew they worked closely together in the past, though you hadn’t seen the man in a couple months. You hoped he would be there to pick up.

“Gladio, is that you?” Came the familiar accent through the phone. Poor man probably heard the caller ID readout and expected to hear an old friend. Probably better than no one else heard from him in his current state.

You declined guiltily. “No, Ignis, it’s (Name.)”

Ignis must’ve detected the concern in your voice, because he was quick to ask if you were in trouble.

“No, i-it’s Gladio… Is he not with you?!” There was a pause.

“No, he isn’t. What’s the matter–?” You cursed again, cutting Ignis off.

“I’m sorry, I’ve got to go right now.” You told him, then pressed a button on the screen to hang up. You were trembling now as you quickly got dressed and headed out to where your car was parked in the street. Daylight was only just breaking when you impatiently unlocked the door, trying at the same time to dial Prompto.

That was when you were approached by the elderly man from next door who startled you with a tap on the shoulder. The concern in his eyes said it all.

“Are you searching for Gladiolus?”

* * *

You had sped down the highway towards the canyons with teeth clenched and your fingernails digging into the steering wheel. That selfish bastard… if he wasn’t dead yet, you thought you just might finish the job yourself. He’d bragged about going off to kill some bandersnatch in a trench to the old man. Who the hell went hunting solo, brandishing a huge blade while piss drunk, that didn’t have a deathwish? As soon as you saw your partner’s car parked on the side of the desert road, you brought your own vehicle to a screeching halt before grabbing your bow from the passenger seat.

When you got to the dip in the rocks, the brunette was down there swinging wildly at the huge beast and covered in blood. He was still quite strong, but the finesse was gone; his muscles atrophied slightly from the malpractice, the lack of care given to his well being with no more daemons left to fight but his own. You could see that he’d injured the monster, but Gladio was far outmatched by his adversary and stumbling around aimlessly in the heat. You called out to him, temporarily attracting the thing’s attention before swiftly slinging an arrow towards its hardened features, narrowly missing its face. As you found a safe place to slide down, Gladio had spun around to see you and you could read the shock and sorrow in his drained expression.

“(Name)?! What the hell are you doing here?!” He scolded you from a distance, quite possibly just now starting to sober up, realizing the whole thing was a grave mistake. You tried to attract the bandersnatch’s attention knowing it wasn’t just your life at stake, but it didn’t consider you a threat. It was out for the blood of the man who cracked off its spiny tail, and you screamed as it charged for him…

* * *

This was how you ended up in a trench in Hammerhead, holding Gladio’s bloodied head in your lap and dabbing it with a rag as he weaned in and out of attention. Tears streamed down your cheeks. You choked back a sob. To think that if the right people hadn’t showed up at the right time, you would’ve never gotten out of there alive…

“What did you think you were doing?!” You demanded. “Oh my God, I thought you were going to die… Please don’t ever scare me like that again!”

Gladio stared up at you with the lingering gloss of alcohol in his eyes. He reached to touch your face, just in time for you to pound your fist into his chest and stop him from speaking to you.

“You think you have no more purpose left in this world–nothing left to protect, is that it?! Yes, the king is gone, Gladio! Well, your sister might not need protecting anymore, but how about me?! How about your unborn child?!” You cried, lowering your forehead to touch his sweat-soaked face. You finally allowed him to touch you. To caress your head in his hands. And you heard something strange… something _rare,_ as your partner grasped at your hair.

“I’m sorry.” Gladio’s breath hitched. A tear rolled out from his copper eyes. “_(Name)…_ I’m so, _so _sorry…”

**Author's Note:**

> He will recover, I promise. <3


End file.
